Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Sweet Pork Salad

I love Costa Vida/Cafe Rio sweet pork salads, tacos, burritos, etc.... So I searched for a recipe and found it. I have made it twice already and it tastes almost identical to the real thing. I also found a recipe for the Cilantro ranch dressing and it tastes the same too. I served it over tortilla's with black beans and a lime rice with lettuce, pico, crushed up chips and parmesan cheese. It was a delight and I just wanted to share this goodness so try it out and let me know what you think. ENJOY!!

Mexican Sweet Pork
Serves: 12
Difficulty: Easy
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 6-8 hours
Ingredients:
4 lb pork shoulder roast (the more fatty the roast, the better)
1 Cup of Pace Picante sauce. (Medium heat is best, but the mild version will work)
2 Cups brown sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Procedure:
Remove pork roast from packaging, and wash. (Avoid cutting the roast to expedite cooking time) In a separate bowl, mix picante sauce and brown sugar and wisk until sugar is mostly dissolved.
In a crock pot or slow cooker, place the roast in the cooker and cover the roast with the mixture of picante sauce and sugar.
Place on medium heat, cover and simmer. Check it every hour or so to rotate roast in the juices. The roast will eventually produce enough juices to make the right consistency, so do not add water.
Once the roast is fully cooked, it will begin to fall apart. Use a fork to separate the meat into smaller segments. Cover and continue cooking.
After 8 hours, continue to shred the meat until no chunks remain.
If it appears to be too juicy, turn slow cooker down to its lowest setting, remove the cover and let it reduce as needed.

Cilantro Ranch Dressing
1 package of Hidden Valley ® buttermilk ranch dressing. (prepare according to directions)
2 tomatillos (they look like green tomatoes, but they are NOT! You may substitute 3 Tbsp of prepared salsa verde)
cilantro (1/4 bunch)
2 cloves of garlic
¼ cup lime juice
1/8 tsp Tabasco
Peel tomatillos and cut into fourths. Clean and rinse cilantro and remove large stems. Pour prepared ranch dressing in a blender, and add cilantro leaves, tomatillos, garlic, lime juice and Tobasco. Blend until cilantro is finely chopped. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until dressing has thickened. (I thought it was a little too limey so the second time I made it I used a little less lime juice and I thought it was better.)

Pico de Gallo
1 cup diced tomatoes (remove seeds)
1/3 cup diced red onion
1 Jalapeno diced (at least a Tablespoon, but more if you prefer)
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 limes juiced (about 1/3 Cup of lime juice)
1 Tbsp cilantro, plus extra for garnish
Salt and pepper
Mix all ingredients in a bowl, and stir well. Chill.

1 comment:

Braden and Jodee said...

Another friend of mine posted those recipes like a year ago, and I still haven't tried it!!! Call me crazy, because I love that dressing... so tasty! Thanks for posting :)